Captain Canada. Mr. Oiler. Ryan freaking Smyth. Does he want to go? Can we endure one more airport moment? Is there a market? Oh my. This again.

He's a part of us, just like Groat Road or the Wee Book Inn or Wanye or potholes are a part of us. Ryan Smyth is the kid who wanted so badly to be an Oiler and had his dream come true. His tearful exit years ago is a distant bell, but if there's a market—and he's willing—will we repeat the ordeal?

Oiler fans may not have a choice.

IS THERE A MARKET?

Probably. Smyth is playing a depth role but has delivered offense in that role, and his possession numbers are well clear of most other Oilers. Smyth is having a good season

THE VOLLMAN SLEDGEHAHMMER

(CORSI REL)

This graph compares Smyth to his own teammates (Corsi Rel) in terms of shot differential. It shows us that he's playing tougher opposition and his zone starts are severe. This is the uphill battle area of the graph -- Smyth, Gordon, Hemsky and Perron are facing tough opps AND starting in their own zone a lot. Smyth's bubble color is rich blue, telling us he's doing an exceptional job compared to his teammates.

He's not perfect. Smyth's 5x5 offense is well down the list, but then again those zone starts and quality of competition impact those numbers in a big way.

Smyth is playing 15:30 a game in Edmonton, getting EV, PP and PK time every game. A contending team wouldn't necessarily need to use him as much, and Smyth might be a more effective player.

WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?

These old guys may need a little extra TLC, but come in handy at playoff time. For an NHL team looking for an inexpensive veteran, Ryan Smyth looks like a viable option.

Just don't ask me to drive him to the airport. Or wave goodbye again.

Lowetide has been one of the Oilogosphere's shining lights for over a century. You can check him out here at OilersNation and at lowetide.ca. He is also the host of Lowdown with Lowetide weekday mornings 10-noon on TSN 1260.

For the itty bitty return the Oil would get, i think that the franchise should show some respect and ask Ryan Smyth what he would like, and then honour that. Yeah, it's a business, but it's a PEOPLE business.

They talk about having pride for the uniform, but sometimes the pride is from the men who wear the uniform. As an Oiler fan I am proud that a player like Smytty wanted to come back here. Don't tarnish it, please, MacT.

For the itty bitty return the Oil would get, i think that the franchise should show some respect and ask Ryan Smyth what he would like, and then honour that. Yeah, it's a business, but it's a PEOPLE business.

They talk about having pride for the uniform, but sometimes the pride is from the men who wear the uniform. As an Oiler fan I am proud that a player like Smytty wanted to come back here. Don't tarnish it, please, MacT.

Sentimental actions are for amateur sports. This is a professional sport and therefore,a business.

Get everything and anything you can for Smyth or anyone else who is traded. They are being paid to do a job, and being paid well to do it...

Sentimental actions are for amateur sports. This is a professional sport and therefore,a business.

Get everything and anything you can for Smyth or anyone else who is traded. They are being paid to do a job, and being paid well to do it...

My money gets spent because I have a sentimental attachment to the team. I don't want Smyth to go, unless he wants to. The only reason the Oilers have him is because he asked to be traded here and gave LA no room to negotiate.

As far as I am concerned, doing that should earn him the right to stay if he would like.

Tambellini is the reason this rebuild has taken so long. Worst GM in NHL history... I'm serious statistically the worst ever.

MacT has been extremely active, and he will be judged IMO on the Gagner trade and how he spends the oilers 40+mil in cap space this offseason.

Interesting when you look at some of the guys who show heart and character each game are the ones Mact brought in :

Perron, Hendricks, Gordan, Gazdic, Scrivens

Silly to claim tambo was the worst ever. Dozens were. Just of the top of my head I will give just one who really is in the running for worst ever:

Mike milbury.

As for MacT he has made zero 1-2 line moves. Just Pygmy trades. Should moved gagner. Should have moved hemsky or bought him out. He chronically overvalued his assets and thus is on the sidelines when the big fish are in play.

Silly to claim tambo was the worst ever. Dozens were. Just of the top of my head I will give just one who really is in the running for worst ever:

Mike milbury.

As for MacT he has made zero 1-2 line moves. Just Pygmy trades. Should moved gagner. Should have moved hemsky or bought him out. He chronically overvalued his assets and thus is on the sidelines when the big fish are in play.

Silly to claim tambo was the worst ever. Dozens were. Just of the top of my head I will give just one who really is in the running for worst ever:

Mike milbury.

As for MacT he has made zero 1-2 line moves. Just Pygmy trades. Should moved gagner. Should have moved hemsky or bought him out. He chronically overvalued his assets and thus is on the sidelines when the big fish are in play.

I still don't know why you would want the Oilers to buy Hemsky out. We're not in a state of being strapped for salary room and come this deadline we might be getting a mid pick for him rather than buying him out and having another team sign him for free.

Having him traded is an argument but I have no idea why you would want him bought out.

My money gets spent because I have a sentimental attachment to the team. I don't want Smyth to go, unless he wants to. The only reason the Oilers have him is because he asked to be traded here and gave LA no room to negotiate.

As far as I am concerned, doing that should earn him the right to stay if he would like.

And that is a fair stance to have.

Just don't whine when your team of sentimental favorites finishes in 29th place.

You can cheer really loud for Smytty while he shoots that 30 mile an hour slapshot from the blueline into the chest of the other team's goalie.

Maybe have cocoa or hot soup after the game.After all,winning doesn't matter, it's having fun that counts.

I still don't know why you would want the Oilers to buy Hemsky out. We're not in a state of being strapped for salary room and come this deadline we might be getting a mid pick for him rather than buying him out and having another team sign him for free.

Having him traded is an argument but I have no idea why you would want him bought out.

I am referring to last year. And actually I have been calling for a trade since RNH was added to the roster. The extra cap room this last summer and season could have been used to sweeten some trade deals or other acquisitions.

I'd point out the obvious question of are you dumb but the answer is rhetorical.

Lowe panicked? Good grief, this isn't the Kardashians.

Yes, it was a negotiation. The Oilers offered 4-6 yrs @ $5M before the season started and Smyth turned it down. They offered closer to $5.5M over the same term during the year and Smyth didn't take it. He wanted more and the Oilers weren't willing to overpay. So they did what virtually every team does with an expiring contract they can't resign and traded him.

That's not panic; that's basic asset management.

Smyth's performance didn't warrant what the Oilers offered let alone what he signed for. Sorry but that's just how it went. That doesn't mean he was a bad player but he didn't live up to $5.5M let alone $6.25M.

And no it didn't turn out to be a good trade but most trades don't. That doesn't change the fact the Oilers got 3 15th overall prospects and picks out of the Islanders for what turned out to be a rental. Making a bad selection with the pick doesn't make it bad return.

Get a grip.

You're an effing joke, dude. I am an MD. So if I am dumb, you must be intellectually deficient (the old, more politically incorrect term is mentally retarded, just so you are aware). But we all already knew that, because any one who defends Lowe for how he handled the Smyth's situation is either a Lowe or of Lowe intellect (see how I did that, there?). They were 200,000 dollars apart on the deal, and he was still eventually offered 750,000 more by the Avalanche. They had several more months to hash this out over the rest of the season, and Smyth clearly wanted to stay in Edmonton, this wasn't a failed negotiation that was going to end badly. As someone already pointed out, the extra money for Smyth was invested in Penner, who was a worse version of Smyth. And then we got 3 players back from NYI, none of whom turned out to be NHL players and there was enough of a precedent to know that they would not be NHL players, in all likelihood.

And you defend the trade, why exactly?

Again, because you can't read good, I will re-iterate that Smyth scored 149 pts in his 199 games during the first 3 seasons, that's pretty damn good. He had a bit of an off year in a different role in LAK in year 4 (in which he still put up nearly 50 pts), and then was full value for the Oilers in that final year in that same 3rd line role. If you are too stupid to understand that Smyth would have been a useful player on this team, you really should not bother to show up for the fight because you are unarmed.

I am sure you are the kind of individual who thinks we should have kept Horcoff this season, but are apparently balking over Smyth's demands to be paid 0.75mil/season below market value to play for the Oilers. Because teams managed by idiots may beget similar-minded fans?

Or... Ryan Smyth and his agent were trying to hold the Oilers over a barrel and stubbornly overplayed their hand for what they thought Ryan Smyth was worth...they were wrong and the Oilers traded Smyth.
Smyth and his agent over-estimated his worth to the team exactly like you are over-estimating his worth to the team right now.
Want proof of the over-estimation on the part Of Smyth? Watch all those crocodile tears at the airport.
Was he crying because the Oilers didn't want him? No, the Oilers offered him a contract for millions of dollars to stay here and play hockey.
He was crying because he wanted more money than he was worth to the Oilers, and they told him to get stuffed...

Holding over a barrel, hey?

So how big was the barrel that he held the Avalanche over? Or the Kings, who 3 years later were still willing to pick up the tab for a man pushing the wrong side of 30?

If you don't like that NHL players get paid millions to do their business, then don't support it. If you do, then accept they get paid millions. Your argument is moot. If you were offered significantly less than you were worth in your job, and you knew you had a few suitors in line for your services in a few months, don't tell me you would stay with your employer. Easy to look down your nose at someone when you would likely ask for the same.

He would have taken around 5.5 x 5 (27.5 million) to stay in Edmonton, and eventually got 6.25 x 5 (31.25 million) to play in Colorado.
Are you honestly telling me that you would leave 4 million dollars on the table to stay in Edmonton, the city, with a floundering team, rather than play with Joe Sakic in Colorado for a 14% pay increase? Because, if you are... I don't want to finish that sentence, Zarny has already exhausted my patience but I will reserve myself here. Suffice it to say, you are likely a hypocrite if faced with a similar situation and you are telling me you stay. But Smyth was willing to do this, to play in Edmonton. To play in front of ingrateful fans like you.

If those were crocodile tears, then I think he deserves an academy award.

I don't know how pegging Smyth for a 4th line winger is overestimating his worth to a team desperately in need of veterans who can kill penalties, stand in the blue paint, and actually care about the team. Lowetide just presented evidence to this effect.

The sentimental man wants Smyth to play one more season. The pragmatic man thinks we can get him fairly cheap to play a reduced role, but would be fine if he hangs them up or is not re-signed. If you call that over-valuing, that is your perogative (but you are wrong).

No, that doesn't make sense, braniac. I would say about 50% of trades don't turn out good if you flip a coin, more often than not they will turn out good if you know what you are doing, and then there's your take, which only occurs if you expect inferior management.

"That doesn't change the fact the Oilers got 3 15th overall prospects and picks out of the Islanders for what turned out to be a rental. Making a bad selection with the pick doesn't make it bad return"

30% chance that pick turns out. So I am not sure that was a bad pick. It was an average pick for that position in the draft, because it was unlikely to turn out well.

And then there's the fact that they took 4.25 of that 5.5 million and spent it on 5 years of Dustin Penner. He scored 47, 37, 63, 45, and 17 pts. Even if you look at those first 3 years, that's 147 pts. 2 less than Ryan, and with more games played. Oilers saved 1.3 million a season to get the same production from a player that was criticized by fans and media, rather than a hometown favorite.

You're an effing joke, dude. I am an MD. So if I am dumb, you must be intellectually deficient (the old, more politically incorrect term is mentally retarded, just so you are aware). But we all already knew that, because any one who defends Lowe for how he handled the Smyth's situation is either a Lowe or of Lowe intellect (see how I did that, there?). They were 200,000 dollars apart on the deal, and he was still eventually offered 750,000 more by the Avalanche. They had several more months to hash this out over the rest of the season, and Smyth clearly wanted to stay in Edmonton, this wasn't a failed negotiation that was going to end badly. As someone already pointed out, the extra money for Smyth was invested in Penner, who was a worse version of Smyth. And then we got 3 players back from NYI, none of whom turned out to be NHL players and there was enough of a precedent to know that they would not be NHL players, in all likelihood.

And you defend the trade, why exactly?

Again, because you can't read good, I will re-iterate that Smyth scored 149 pts in his 199 games during the first 3 seasons, that's pretty damn good. He had a bit of an off year in a different role in LAK in year 4 (in which he still put up nearly 50 pts), and then was full value for the Oilers in that final year in that same 3rd line role. If you are too stupid to understand that Smyth would have been a useful player on this team, you really should not bother to show up for the fight because you are unarmed.

I am sure you are the kind of individual who thinks we should have kept Horcoff this season, but are apparently balking over Smyth's demands to be paid 0.75mil/season below market value to play for the Oilers. Because teams managed by idiots may beget similar-minded fans?

Good Morning, "Doctor".

Gosh, you seemed a little angry last night.

I'm guessing Dr. Dangilitis had a little visit from Dr. Boozie and then started typing. ;)

As an "MD", you already know, but a couple of Tylenol will help with the headache...